Cortland is a medium-sized city located in the state of New York. With a population of 17,276 people and seven associated neighborhoods, Cortland is the 107th largest community in New York. Much of the housing stock in Cortland was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Cortland is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Cortland is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Cortland who work in food service (15.22%), sales jobs (10.46%), and office and administrative support (9.08%). Cortland is a small town with a large college student population. Because of this, there is a real youthful, hip vibe to the place, and much of the life in the town is centered on the college. This has helped Cortland to buck the trend of other small towns that have suffered declining populations over the past 20 to 30 years. Spending by students, and faculty and staff jobs, are a big part of the local economy. One of the benefits of Cortland is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.33 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.In terms of college education, Cortland is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 27.06% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Cortland in 2022 was $26,198, which is low income relative to New York, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $104,792 for a family of four. However, Cortland contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Cortland is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Cortland home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Cortland residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Cortland include Irish, English, German, Italian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Cortland is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.
